Top 10 GPOs by staffed beds

Updated February 2023 

Healthcare's ongoing push towards clinically integrated networks (CINs), health information exchanges (HIEs), and value-based care continues to drive consolidation across the industry. At the same time, providers need allies to help shoulder new technical and financial burdens.  

As a result, the purchasing power of affiliated facilities stands to reach new heights.  

Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) managing the buying needs of healthcare providers help hospitals reign in some of that spending by leveraging the collective purchasing power of member facilities to negotiate savings on purchased goods and services.  

97% of hospitals have an affiliated GPO, and research from the Healthcare Supply Chain Association (HSCA) suggests that those GPOs decrease the cost of healthcare by as much as $55B each year.   

According to the data in the Definitive Healthcare platform, the top 10 GPOs by the number of staffed beds of their affiliated hospitals are:  

10 GPOs with the most affiliated staffed beds

Fig. 1 Data from Definitive Healthcare's HospitalView platform. Data accessed February 2023.  

Which GPO has the greatest number of staffed beds?  

Vizient has the greatest number of staffed beds with a total of 451,849. Premier Inc comes in second with 341,745 staffed beds, followed by HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HPG) with 176,182 staffed beds. Together, Vizient, Premier Inc and HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HPG) account for 80% of the total staffed beds across the top 10 GPOs.   

Across the top 10 GPOs, there are 1,214,632 total staffed beds and an average of 121,463 staffed beds.  

Healthcare consolidation and GPOs  

Healthcare's consolidation trend also impacts the GPO market. In April of 2021, Vizient completed its acquisition of Intalere. Vizient represents the largest member-owned healthcare company in the country, with a diverse array of member healthcare organizations representing almost $110 billion in annual purchasing volume.        

Some critics argue that the GPO buying process, funded by administrative fees paid by vendors (typically 1-3% of total negotiated contracts), favors larger vendors with higher price points and limits new vendor competition in the market.  

Nevertheless, GPOs represent large-scale savings for many in the healthcare supply chain. Based on an economic analysis of CMS data, the HSCA expects GPOs to generate savings of up to $456.6 billion for the entire U.S. health system between 2017 and 2026. This includes $116.3 billion in Medicare savings and $90.1 billion in Medicaid savings.  

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